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Man, w-h-y is he doing this? I’m scratching my head on this. OK, so the march isn’t his bag, why not simply say nothing rather than to continue tossing out the barbs? We already heard similar comments from him earlier in the week. (AP):
Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay member of Congress, says he’d rather see gay rights supporters lobbying their elected officials than marching in Washington this weekend, calling the demonstration “a waste of time at best.”
Frank said in an interview with The Associated Press that he considers such demonstrations to be “an emotional release” that does little to pressure Congress.
“The only thing they’re going to be putting pressure on is the grass,” the Massachusetts Democrat said Friday.
I don’t get it, the continual need to do this sounds more like he keeps saying this stuff as if it will make the watch go away. It’s not an either/or. I’d would love to see all of those people go and lobby their federal and state legislators, in fact I’d prefer that too, but it doesn’t negate the value of this march, with Congress in session (it wasn’t going to be originially) and now the President speaking at the HRC dinner.
Perhaps the Congressman from Massachusetts is concerned that there will be a media spotlight on the NEM because of the way things have worked out. The march will not be ignored and this may be an expression of the disdain for the netroots and grassroots interfering with business as usual in a very public and newsworthy way now. Who knows, but the continual public comments aren’t becoming.
37 Comments
The only thing they’re going to be putting pressure on is the grassMaybe he’s got penis envy.
I think why he’s doing this is fairly clear.The March will be, at the very least, an embarrassment for President Fierce (despite HRC’s valiant efforts to paint him as our liberator). And it’s been apparent for a long time that Barney Frank feels a lot more loyalty to his party’s leadership than he does to our community. He is the ultimate political careerist. Frank is trying, in advance, to defuse the inconvenient PR. I imagine he’s doing it because it’s his job, but it’s hard to imagine he doesn’t believe this crud in his heart.
Maybe Barney Fears TriangulationWith Obama speaking the HRC dinner, it could come off as HRC=normal-moderate-gays and NEM=radical-leftist-gays. Obama can take our outrage and triangulate with it.
It’s just a theory anyway. I support the march as a means of putting pressure on each other, networking with each other and plain visibility. Barney’s just thinking of Washington politics…he’s thinking about the ends, but not the means to get to the ends. Yes, lobby congress, but the community needs to be networked and fired-up to do that.
Barney needs to know we’re not all politicians who make a living off of this like he does. We don’t have aides, pages and assistants who organize meetings for us and create our agendas for the day.
Personally, I hope this is a trend. If not marches then an annual convention (that isn’t a celebration or something that costs $1,000 to attend)…like the “Value Voters” do.
historical contextPlease note: Barney Frank has had this same position about marches on Washington since at least 1993. Sorry I can’t paste or embed the text since it’s from Google Books, but I’ll see if I can do a screen grab and post that in a separate message.
So basically, the things he’s saying are nothing new for him. As to why he keeps harping on it, I think it’s probably because the media keeps asking him. It’s sort of like how homocons like Andrew Sullivan are the ones the media likes to interview instead of LGBT people who are more liberal: they like the novelty of a conservative gay man, and he is happy to be a media whore. So the media won’t ask the other out members of Congress their opinions about the march because (assuming they support it–I haven’t actually kept track) their support would be seen by the media as predictable and therefore not interesting. But having an out congressman pan the march is almost a man-bites-dog story, which the media cannot resist.
My $.03 (adjusted for inflation and my own queerness.)
At least he’s consistentHe said the same thing about trans anger at incrementalist policies two years ago.
Then added we need to do more educating on capitol hill.
Must be nice to be the most powerful one of his particular type in Washington DC…
image file of quote from 1993Okay, I did the screen cap in case anyone can’t access the quote via the Google Books link:
Barney Frank needs to know one thing, Even though he feels like the top dog in the house of representatives. that doesn’t give him the right to believe he is the HMFIC (head mother fucker in charge)
Where I believe he has lost a lot of credibility is by not allowing a vote to take place so we can see who and which politicians need to be educated on our issues.
Barney Doesn’t Understand PowerlessnessI only became an activist beginning in November, following the defeat of gay marriage in California. Although it wasn’t much, it was a beginning for me to travel to downtown Dallas and stand in protest.
Since that time I have been in several marches/protests — Rainbow Lounge and Equality March Texas.
What it has done for me is personal empowerment. To think that I have gone from where I was three or four years ago to now is amazing.
This last month I began to talk more and more at work about gay rights, I have been out at work for about two years. I began to demand why I must hide my sexuality from students while straight teachers were allowed to flaunt theirs. I finally have taken my question to the Human Resources department and demanded that I be given equal treatment.
I would never have done this had it not been for marching and protesting. I have realized that if I don’t speak up who will. So, while I understand that Barney doesn’t see a direct effect, I know from my personal experience it has the power to change me as a person.
I also believe if we hadn’t done this in Fort Worth, Texas the abuse of gays at Rainbow Lounge would have been swept under the rug.
Why?The same reason Cleve Jones and others criticize local and state efforts.
The same reason Andrew Sullivan and others criticize HRC.
The same reason folks here take shots at “Gay Inc”
The poster above got it right about the media loving a man-bites-dog story.
With political action comes criticism from at least one POV, often many.
The question is, is the criticism in some way valid?
Wrong Again, Barney“The only thing they’re going to be putting pressure on is the grass,” the Massachusetts Democrat said Friday.
You won’t be in attendance so the grass will be fine and standing tall in the fall sunshine.
disturbingA couple disturbing implications of the 1993 B. Frank quote: Congress doesn’t care &/or Congress doesn’t pay attention to the cries of the masses ( as in mass demonstrations).
Not new, however.They do pay attention the media coverage of such, however, which Frank often forgets, and that has an impact he is ignoring.
Where the Power Really Lies
Barney is a professional politician. The only people they listen to anymore are lobbyists. Lobbying and lobbyists are all they know.
It’s useless, or in Barney’s words (“a waste of time at best”) for the average citizen to “lobby” their representatives. They don’t have enough $$$ to contribute.
I believe the chant was…
not
So MLK’s “I have a dream…” speech changed nothing?
Sorry Barney, nobody knew in advance that that march would generate one of the most influential, historic, and iconic speeches in 100 years.
“Four score and seven…”
“A day that will live in infamy…”
“Ask not what your country can do for you…”
“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
“I paid for this microphone!”
“Mission Accomplished…”
“At long last, sir, have you no decency?”
“I did not have sexual relations with that woman…”
“It depends on what the definition of “Is” is.”
“You missed a little bit there on the end…
it’s P O T A T O “E”. ”
Sometimes, Barney, words and actions change history. (for good or ill)
Simply,Barney Frank is not a nice person. He is always a loudmouth insufferably egotistical jerk in all interviews I have seen. As Pam said, there is nothing wrong disagreeing with the march on substantive grounds.
Instead we have the most prominent gay pol in Congress insulting and ridiculing his own community, which is disgustingly wrong. But not surprising from a word class bastard.
I’m not sure if a march will work or notBut I support those who could go to it and if I could of i would of gone too. I did stop by my congress critter’s office yesterday, Mary Jo Killroy, a good friend of the community to make sure that glbt issues are top of mind for her and her staff. I think we should commit as a community to contact our congress critters weekly on glbt issues, whether they are in our camp or not.
Try going to the Task Force’s Creating Change conference if you want a chance to network and learn how to work in your community.
It will absolutely never work if it never happens, now will it?
okayso your only contribution to the conversation is to attack Rep. Frank about his weight?
And we wonder why political figures ignore mass gatherings of the LGBT community.
Ignore the old queenBarney would still be in the closet if it weren’t for the gay rights movement towards whcih he is so unremittingly hostile.
It’s the force of history that pushed him out and it’s the force of gay power that will win the day.
Don’t expect straight politicians to do ANYTHING. The only one I can think of is Gavin Newsom. He’s the exception that proves the rule.
Barry’s gonna do the usual shuck and jive and the HRC will praise him to the skies. THey’re worse than useless.
Sorry, I don’t read that post that way. It’s not a weight bash, merely an invisibility bash.
Not a valid comparissonFor one that was a different age. It was rarer and made a statement.
Every group marches these days (except AARP and NRA; which maybe we should learn from), with little effect.
Also we don’t have a Martin Luther King Jr. (who if you really think about it, was a central focus and icon of that movement). We have a group of various speakers, many of them good, but no one as electric as King.
I will make sure to tell all my older friends they should go away nowRemember that because of these “old queens” you even have a voice in the political arena.
Maybe, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on thatbut it just comes across as less than helpful.
But the grass will still be “pressured.” The pressured grass quote had nothing to do with Frank being there. But equating crushed grass and Frank came across wrong.
Maybe he should have chosen his words better.
I guess what I’m looking foris simple. I’m waiting for one of the March supporters to offer a logical and rational argument for the march.
Networking, empowering. etc are nice catch phrases, but really don’t mean a whole lot in the end, if there is no action.
Oh and for the supporters to stop acting in the “your either with us or against us” attitude. I’ve heard that before and it was BS than and is BS now.
I’m so sick of himI think HMFIC (this is my new favorite acronym. Thanks) should be Tammy Baldwin. Let’s marginalize Frank altogether. Withdraw our support. Let him rant and rave and let it mean nothing. We have work to do and he is an obvious impediment. Always has been, always will be.
And Barney, maybe YOU didn’t see the worth of the 1993 MOW but I certainly did. I saw people of all orientations and all genders return to their homes ready to take the next steps towards equality for EVERYONE. I saw them doing EXACTLY what you suggest today. They lobbied their congresscritters. They demanded action on their issues. They were fired up and ready to go. Frankly, I think you only see what you want to see, truth be damned.
Personally, I think the NEM is ill-timed and ill-prepared. That being said, I admire and support those who chose to make it happen because I have witnessed the power of these marches twice before. If I was not taking care of a recovering spouse who had surgery yesterday, I probably would be in Seattle for the local NEM because this is what activists do. We put aside our personal feelings and we support each other (HRC is not an activist organization so I feel no need to support them).
Well Gay, Inc. aka Joe S. just called me a liarAnd he’s bald faced lying – http://www.pamshouseblend.com/…
Well, they might get a tan if it’s sunny outsideFrank is right about this.
Looking forward to watching everyone piss themselves like excited puppies after HomophObama’s pretty (and vapid) speech to the white Homotocracy.
Anyone got some popcorn?
Apparently , he can’t help himselfLook how he (and HRC) threw trans men and trans women under the bus in 2007.
He doesn’t realize that hurt EVERYONE. The right wingers and religious fanatics picked up on that division and tried to use it against us ALL. They were saying how elite and wealthy gay MEN only cared about the rights of elite and wealthy gay MEN. It told Focus On The Family and their ilk, the powers that be in our community (especially in Washington) cared little to nothing for Lesbians. Bi-people, Trans folk.
You’d think if he is all that smart and savvy, he’d know you do you do not give the other side ammunition. Just as important. You do not shit on your LGBTA sisters and brothers.
If he can’t say something constructive (at least in public), he needs to STFU.
Dena
Typohe’d know you do not give*
Why is Barney so angryOur putting pressure on the grass is still more than what he is doing.
By your reasoning, we should just fax the speeches.
If you know in advance, like Barney, that no speech or speaker will or can have an electrifying effect, then why not just fax press releases and be done with it?
Feh.
So that particular criticism is invalidIt comes with the territory. And that’s the point.
I’ve been called a liar and worse too.
So have you. You document some of it on the site’s sidebars.
When it’s unwarranted fight it, and fight with it.
This ain’t a tea party.
Or is it?
What lie?I followed the link; I’ve been trying to keep up with all the threads.
What/where is the lie that Joe S. told?
And where did he call you a liar?
I was making a historical comparisonDo you know of any LGBT leader/speaker that can draw us all together, forget our petty squabbles and do whatever it takes to get our equality? And if you know of this person, than why the f#@&ing hell are you keeping this person hidden from the rest of us?
Because of the leadership and belief in the cause, as well as King’s attributes, people were willing to be jailed, beaten, and killed to work for change. I have a really hard time imagining the majority of the boys and girls partying in D.C. tonight would be willing to do the same.
Faxing in the speeches?
Hardly, but as we saw tonight with Obama’s speech, many speeches are meant to make us feel good and hope that change will happen. There is no clear rallying cry to make that change happen. A true leader in the mold of King would inspire people to rush into the streets demanding that change.
(and if you really wanted change…..and not just an excuse to party….why not spend Saturday night getting people to write letters, raise funds for campaigns. etc. My husband is in D.C. for the week (it was his first time there, so he used it as an excuse to go and share a room with friends) and I just heard from him, there is no such activity. Everyone is out having a good time and telling each other how great it is that they are all there).
Heh.The only thing Barney puts pressure on are donors and his office chair.
(How about signing on to Polis’s repeal of DOMA, Barn? Oh sorry, too much pressure?)